Read and Say. Then Sing and Play

Modes and Chords - The Guitar Edition

 

Reading music is the easiest way for a musician to learn the fretboard. Scales combined with the stave is the best way to train fingers to play music with perfect timing.

Every key has a natural set of chords, but other chords will appear in the expected chord sequences of a song. I named these chords Expected Changes.

One important day in my learning years I broke the code that linked modes and their chords together. I discovered Expected Changes had their own modes. From that moment on I would use that knowledge to improvise in any song whatever the key or style.

Matching the Expected Changes to their relative modes made fluent lead guitar playing possible. All this knowledge, and more, is in this, the modes and chords section of The Music Reader's Toolbox.

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Turning a mode into a melody is a big step towards improvisation.


Discovering the natural chords to any key will help rhythm playing enormously.


Knowledge gained in one key transfers to all keys.


Chords come from modes. Each chord diagram shows note names and correct fingers.



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